Tuesday, October 6, 2015

tomatoes 2015

we were expecting our first solid overnight frost the other night and so we went and cleaned our tomatoe plants. this is our last haul of fresh tomatoes for 2015.

here is a big giant bag of frozen tomatoes that we harvested over the past 2 months.

even though we love eating tomatoes, you can only eat so many tomatoes a day. so we ate them fresh and then froze the ones we were unable to eat. those tomatoes were picked and frozen at their peak ripeness and will be cooked into a sauce and then canned for near-fresh tomatoe sauce over the winter.

here are some tomatoes that aren't quite ripe yet so i am ripening them in the greenhouse. it looks like we'll still be eating fresh tomatoes until the end of october at least - not too shabby!

we also picked all of the green tomatoes - these will be turned into chow-chow and then canned.

chow-chow has a very interesting history. i grew up eating chow-chow but jambaloney is only familiar with indian-style chutney. according to wikipedia:

i have always found the history of the expulsion of the Acadians to be very interesting. lots of people don't know that the Acadians eventually found their way down to Louisiana and created the "Cajun" culture!

anyway - that's a lot of history to explain that the Acadians took green tomatoes, onions, cabbage and garlic and pickled it to make the version of chow-chow that i know. it is a great side dish/condiment with just about anything and if it is made with tomatoes that you grew yourself - it means that in the middle of february, you can still be serving tomatoes that you grew yourself.

jambaloney is in town, 3 cats and 1 dog are sleeping, and based on her sleeping patterns, i expect the dog to be up in an hour or so. we had her out in the yard yesterday afternoon for about 4 straight hours - it was a beautiful day and she laid in the shade, watched the cats, watched the birds (i swear she is part bird-dog!), sniffed the air, walked her perimeter, learned a bunch of new stuff - and didn't bark or yip when dogs further down are road were barking! what a relief! she's a very quiet and well-mannered dog already and she is still just a baby!!!

it's a good thing that she is such a quiet dog...this year is the first year that we have been consistently hearing coyotes yipping...and not just at night but during the day too! we have never heard them this loud or this close. it's a smidge frightening i must add...just another good reason to have a serious-sized dog on the property!

4 comments:

Have you ever made green tomato mincemeat? It is quite good if you love mincement...I do...my english mother and all! Great idea about the big bag of tomatoes. Canning in winter is much nicer in the heat department!

Even just one tomato plant can produce at harvest time more than we can eat fresh so we also freeze most of the tomatoes.The dog is proving to be a good watch dog, stays silent until the threat is close and then must bark.

Your pup will be your protector :-) She will scare off those coyotes. It sounds to me like the coyotes are looking for food that's why there closer to town and your home.

That is a nice tomato harvest.......SciFiChick would be proud of you!!!! My tomato harvest has been sporadic, and very disappointing this season. I believe a lot of that had to deal with the over abundance of water we received this season.

Will you be making tomato powder this season? Sending you both hugs and love.Sandy

About Framboise Manor

Framboise Manor is our Bug-Out Location (BOL) that we have been living in since December 2010. As can be seen by the above picture - calling it simply a "Manor" doesn't do it justice - we bet you think it is more like an "Estate", eh?

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Who Are We?

we are jambaloney and kymber. here's a pic of us below...we look very happy and content. it's because we really are!

About jambaloney

(he's only 23 in this pic...he has 20+years of additional muscle now...if you can believe it!)

kymber here and talking about jambaloney.

i've always called him my angel. my rock. my best half. the best part of what i have always wanted to become.

he has a soul as big as the biggest mountain, he is strong, he is in incredible physical condition, he is 51 and yet most people think he is under 40. he is humble and modest, charming, gorgeous and will help anyone with anything at anytime. he never grumbles and only every now and again complains or is a tiny bit cranky (nothing that a hug can't fix!). he can cut both sides out of 70 tires in minutes, build raised beds from scrap wood that he drags out of the forest, weedwhack 800ft of our road down to the river, and haul more wheelbarrows of dirt, mulch, rocks and seaweed than is probably medically-advised. he's learned how to braid, make bread and no one makes better rice - not even the chinese. he supports my every, crazy endevour. he went 44 years without a driver's license and got his license after being trained by my crazily-wonderful french canadian friend in 2 weeks. she never stopped talking the whole time. in french.

he has biked everywhere his entire life, at one job he biked 24km EACH WAY. that's to and from! 24km to work AND 24km from work! oh and just accidentally has an honours degree in philosophy.

i believe that he is Our Lord's most beautiful and perfect creation. but i might be biased. he can very accurately shoot a ben pearson cougar re-curve from both the left and right. and his aim is dead on.

he is bow-legged and only 5'7", but has the most incredible eyes. and a tiny mole on his upper lip. he writes the most romantic "insta-poems". he tells me he loves me several times a day. he calls me "babe" and "honey". and he means it.he loves hot sauce and spicey things like cayenne and banana peppers, he buys (or now picks) me flowers, he left a lucrative, high-paying IT job and his family to follow me here to this remote little island. he builds me shelves and washes all of our laundry with me by hand.

oh and he was baptized Anglican. and was an alter boy. sheesh. somehow, through my intervention, i am turning him into a pagan-christian-fundamentalist-confuscian. look, even i can't figure that out!

the name jambaloney is a nickname that i gave him over 10 years ago. he still uses it. he can be reached at "jambaloney@gmail.com". he loves comments or emails. and he loves me.

if i were given the opportunity to wish one thing for the world - i would wish that every woman on the planet had a jambaloney. i know that i could save the world this way. i have friends who have asked me to clone him. i am trying. believe me, i am trying. one day i will perfect the science involved, and when that happens, i promise all of you a jambaloney.

i love him more than...breathing, lobster, boiled dinner, fresh bread out of the oven, bugging out, singing back up for Madonna (ok...i made that one up!), fresh sheets on the bed, a glass of red wine after a long day, sunflower seeds, lavender, growing my own potatoes, T.S. Eliot, dancing, my babies (who are really just cranky old cats!) and the Bible.

i love him more than i love Framboise Manor. and i really love Framboise Manor.

About kymber

(this pic might seem odd. trust me, it's not. 20 yrs ago kymber went shopping with a girlfriend from the military and bought this dress. then she hooked up with that girlfriend recently. they caught up through email and one day kymberz friend mentioned that specific dress. kymber said she still had it (kymber still has her prom gown for crying out loud!). the friend did not believe it. so we had to take a pic of kymber wearing the 20yr old dress for her friend. kymber always likes to add accessories...and well, we had the bunny ears laying around. ya know, cuz everyone always has pink bunny ears laying around. ok, that's it...i am out of here! jambaloney)

what can i say about kymber?? A LOT!!most of it will have to wait for blog entries ‘cuz i just don’t have enough space here to do her justice…

so i’ll have to do my best… first and foremost, kymber is my partner and i will love her forever. she is the best partner anyone could ever have, i am one lucky guy!! she is 46, she is sweet as can be, smart as a whip, super cute, exceptionally feminine, strong as an ox, honest, kind, empathetic, wise, an amazing dancer, a master wit in speaking and writing….i could go on..i will!

at 5’ 1’’ she packs a wallop – a true force of nature -she is a master gardener and chef and spent 10 years in the Canadian Military – she has done 2 tours of Alert (the north bloody-cold pole). she is a UN-certified Korean linguist and spoils our 2 cats rotten. she also spent 12yrs working in the federal government, as a communications analyst at SolGen (now PSEPC) and Fintrac. she loves nature in the true sense of the phrase..the wildflowers, insects and birds here at framboise manor keep her entranced and captivated for hours.

anyone who is her friend knows that she will stop at nothing to help and heal, dedication and loyalty are an integral part of who she is and she is dead serious about anything she puts her mind to. yet she maintains the most delicate touch and a smile on her face always, never afraid to live and love no matter where and when.

she is the most genuine human being i have ever met! and she has encouraged me to embark on the most crazy and exciting adventure i could imagine… thank you babe - i sooo love you!!!